Quentin Tarantino Calls This Prime Video Gem a “Terrific Slasher Movie” With One of His Favorite Kill Scenes
Thanks to the success and popularity of slasher classics like Friday the 13th, Halloween, and A Nightmare on Elm Street, an ’80s wave of eager imitators emerged in their wake. Unashamedly pulling from the same playbook, many played out like Bizarro World replicas, altering masks and motives, but retaining many of the general story beats. Even though many failed to reach the same status as their inspiration (Friday the 13th being the most notable exception), some flipped the script just enough to carve out their own place in horror history and the hearts of horror fans, including Quentin Tarantino’s.
An open and avid fan of the genre, Tarantino never shies away from an opportunity to highlight an underappreciated cinematic nugget that he feels deserves more eyeballs on it. During an interview with FHM Magazine back in the day, Tarantino was asked what some of his favorite horror movie kills were, and without skipping a beat, Tarantino mentioned Joseph Zito’s 1981 slasher, The Prowler. Now streaming on Prime, The Prowler’s reputation for brutal violence and its captivating, cold, methodical killer has kept it a cult favorite for decades.
If you haven’t seen it, The Prowler plays like a textbook of tightly staged, practical-effects horror. Set around a post-graduation dance, the film follows kids in a coastal town stalked by a mysterious, WWII Army fatigues-clad killer who dispatches victims with slow, horrifying precision. It’s the kind of craftsmanship that made the film a cult touchstone, not because it reinvented the wheel, but because it executed the wheel with surgical nastiness.
The cast also punches above the material. Vicky Dawson (About Hope) and Christopher Goutman (The Edge of Night) anchor the movie’s crew of young slasher fodder. While leaning heavily into what early slasher tropes there were, the performances are endearing nonetheless. The Prowler also features some seasoned pros, such as Farley Granger (Rope) and Lawrence Tierney (Silver Bullet), who Tarantino would later cast as Joe Cabot in Reservoir Dogs.
Part of what keeps the movie talked about is the craft behind the carnage. The iconic Tom Savini (Dawn of the Dead) designed the film’s elaborate murder sequences, and the production famously scheduled whole days to shoot kills so each could land with maximum impact. And that commitment to crafting excellent slasher set pieces shows.
Tarantino’s description of one of these kills highlights why the film is a must-see for slasher fans. In the interview, he stated, “There’s a terrific slasher movie called The Prowler, it was out right after they’d come down hard on those movies, but they got X-rated violence in. There’s a girl in the shower, with her boyfriend lying on the bed, and the prowler comes up and sticks a bayonet through the top of his head so it comes down through his chin. It’s really slow. And [then] he goes into the shower, where…he stabs her with a pitchfork and as she’s screaming, he lifts her up the wall.”
What the trailer for The Prowler right here:
If you’re ready to see what the fuss is about, or just want to revisit this underseen early ‘80s slasher, The Prowler is now streaming on Amazon Prime Video. If physical media is more your thing, Blue Underground has an affordable, uncut, and uncensored Blu-ray release just waiting for you to pick up.
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